Some of these reasons I have listed could be the reason why Marie is worryingly underweight. It could be possible that Marie has had the lack of positive food experiences, it stands to sense, as Marie has only one primary care giver, her mother may not be able to afford quality nutritional food, therefore this may be the cause of why Marie isn’t putting on too much weight, or it could be genetic factor, however the case, it is quite worrying.
Height
Height is another important factor that is monitored throughout a child’s life, as it too can determine if a child’s physical growth development is normal or not. It is easy to recognise, easy to measure and easy to record.
Children usually grow around the same rate; this is referred to as the “Norm”. An average new-born baby will measure 48cm, by one year old he/she will have grown to about 64cm and by the age of 5 he/she will have grown to a height of 96cm. These are the height a typical child should be. From checking and measuring a childs’ pattern of growth, any problems can be detected and dealt with.
Below you can observe four tables illustrating Marie’s height throughout the four stages of her life; infancy, toddler, pre-school and school age. In these tables I expect Marie’s height to be line with the “norm” or near the “norm”.
Firstly observing the table for infancy I can see Marie was 8cm below the norm when she was just born. The most likely reason for this is because she was born premature and the fact that she was born too early, she didn’t have enough time to develop properly in the womb therefore this may be why she is below the norm. Throughout the rest of this table, I observe that Marie had failed to reach the height norm of an average child. When Marie was 3 months she only grew by 4cms from Newborn. At 3 months she still wasn’t reaching the general height of a Newborn. At 3 months a typical infant should be at a height around 53cm. Again Marie is 8cm behind this norm. Marie is exactly 8cms behind the general height throughout infancy. She has only grown 4cms every 3 months. For example, her weight is 48cm at 6 months, at 9 months it is 52cm. However from carrying out research on this issue I have acknowledged that an average child grows 3-4cms every three months. Marie is growing 4cm’s every three months which shows that Marie is progressing well and healthy even though she isn’t reaching the norm. If Marie had of been born at full term, she probably would have been the average height of a newborn, therefore I don’t have any concerns with her not reaching the norm.
As a toddler Marie is still under the average weight. Throughout all her toddler months, I have detected that she is 8cm smaller than the average. As Marie was premature her growth could be slower than what it is supposed to be. Marie is growing 4cms every 3 months as you can observe. Again the average growing spurt for every three months is 4cms. Marie is growing steadily but is still not reaching the average height.
Throughout pre-school, Marie is still failing to reach the average height. She is till 8cm below the normal height of a child, this significant gap is worrying at this stage as I have commented earlier, Pre-school is a crucial stage where a child should have good dietary habits, these height results are evident that her diet may not be good as she is not growing too much. Prematurity could be the factor impacting on her height or it could be other possible factors such as low income. For example; Marie may not be getting the correct nutrition in order for her to grow, this may be due to low income, her family may have needed to focus on the quantity of food in the house rather than the nutrition and this could be the possible cause of Marie being under the recommended norm throughout pre-school.
Throughout school age, I can observe from the table that she is behind a year in her growth. For instance, Marie’s current height is 100cm as she is now 7 years old. She is now reaching the average height of a six year old. This is worrying that she is 1 year behind in her growth as she was only a few weeks premature. When Marie turns eight she will most likely be 104 cm, the height she should be now at her current age. Hopefully in the nearer future, throughout her teenage years, she will catch up on the average height and be in line with the norm rather than 1 year behind.
Physical development
This term physical development is a much more complex process and much more difficult to measure and record than growth. This type of development is about gaining and controlling skills. To gain complete control, children need to master two different types of skills which are called
- Gross motor skills
- Fine motor skills
Gross motor skills
Children need to learn how to control the muscles that are used for balance and large movement such as walking, climbing and kicking a ball. These are known as a term call gross motor skills. Control develops from the head down to the shoulders, arms and legs.
Fine motor skills
At the same time as controlling the larger body muscles, children need to learn to develop and control the smaller muscles of the hands and fingers so that they can do delicate tasks, such as writing, drawing and fastening buttons. These are the fine motor skills.
In this task I am going to repeat the last task with the same four tables, only this time these two milestones are Gross motor skills and Fine Motor skills.
Physical development – Gross motor skills
Infancy
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
Looking at Marie’s infancy stage for this Gross motor skills of physical development, I can observe that she has developed most of the skills before the general age that the milestone are met. This indicates to me that she extremely advanced in this area, for instance at 3 months Marie could lift her head and chest when she was lying on her stomach. An average baby reaches this specific milestone at four months. Marie is one month ahead of the norm which is exceptionally good. When Marie was 10 months she could pull herself to standing position. A typical average infant reaches this milestone within the last year of infancy which is 12 months; therefore Marie is advanced by 2 months. Again with the last milestone, at the age of 10 months Marie could walk by holding onto the furniture. The general age an infant meets this milestone is 12 months. Marie is 2 months ahead this is evidence that she is extremely advanced in her gross motor skills through infancy. However, I have detected that she didn’t reached a milestone which was that she never crawled. The typical age an infant reaches this milestone is 8-9 months. Marie has never met this milestone, she never crawled therefore this is called development delay. I find this quite intriguing with the fact that she never crawled but she could walk because mostly all babies crawl before they walk. This could be a genetic factor which has delayed this milestone or other factors could have impacted on Marie which delayed her from reaching the milestone.
In the second table for toddler we can see that Marie is still very advanced in her gross motor skills, in fact she is extremely advanced as she is ahead of every milestone by a couple of months. For example, she could walk without support at 15 months. The general age this milestone is met is 18 months. Marie is three months ahead of this which is quite advanced. Another example is the fourth milestone in the table. Marie could kick a football at 33 months, the recommended age a child should meet this milestone is at 36 months. Marie is four months ahead of this which is extremely advanced.
During Marie’s pre-school she is ahead of every milestone that is listed in the table. She could stand, walk and run on her tiptoes aged 3. An average child manages conquer this milestone at 4 years which shows that Marie is one year ahead of the norm which is very advanced. Marie is a head of all the milestones by one year accept for the last milestone listed. She was still ahead of the norm but only by half a year which is six months as this milestone is reached by pre-schoolers aged 5 years and Marie only met this at 4 and a half years, but this is still extremely good. Marie could catch a ball at 3 years old which is the last year of toddlerhood. Again at three years of age she could bounce a ball, pedal and steer a tricycle skilfully. She is basically reaching these milestones at the last year of toddler age as the milestone listed are usually met by 4 years of age, therefore this is more evidence that Marie is extremely advanced in her gross motor skills.
Lastly looking at the school age table, Marie is only ahead of the norm in one of the milestone listed which is “able to swim without arm bands”, she is advanced in this milestone by 1 year as she reached it at the age of six and a typical child reaches this at the age of 7, this is quite good. The other milestones present within the table, Marie has met them all by the age of six and the general age a child meets them is also at six, so Marie is just in line with the norm. I have observed that Marie isn’t as advanced during her school age as she was during infancy, toddlerhood and pre-school but however it is still good she is in line with the norm and not behind the norm like she is in her physical growth.
Physical development – Fine motor skills
Infancy
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
Throughout the four stages of Marie’s life I can see that she is advanced in almost all areas of her fine motor skills.
During infancy Marie is from one to two months ahead of the recommended norms, for example at 2 months she could hold her hands open. This milestone is usually encountered by an infant at the age of 3 months. Marie met this within 1 month of the norm which indicates that she is advanced. Another example is that at 7months Marie could user her pincer grasps to pick up small objects. A typical infant meets this milestone at 9 months; therefore Marie is two months ahead of the norm. Marie is in line with two of the norms at Newborn which is good as health carers could detect that Marie is meeting the norm and that everything is alright.
Looking at the toddler table I have observed that Marie is ahead in most of the milestones, however she is in line with three milestones which are ‘turned several pages in a book at once’, ‘stacked three blocked’ and ‘held crayon and scribbled with little control. Marie met all three of these milestones at the age of 14 months. The general age a toddler meets these is between twelve to eighteen months. Marie has meet these milestones within two months of the recommended ages, 12-18 therefore I would count her being extremely advanced because within 12-18 months Marie could have reached these within six months of the recommended ages but she didn’t, she met it within two.
For all the milestones throughout pre-school, Marie is advanced by one year. For example; she could stack 10 or more building blocks at three years of age and the general age a typical pre-schooler meets this is at 4 years. A second example of Marie being advanced is reaching the milestone “using a knife and fork with confidence at the age of four. The general age is five for this milestone. Marie is constantly meeting the milestones for a pre-schooler within a year before the general age; this shows me that her fine motor skills are exceptionally good.
Lastly for school age Marie is advanced in all the milestones listed apart from the last one. In the last one in the table, Marie is just in line with the average age. For instance at six years of age, Marie met the milestone for using scissors skilfully. The general age this is met is 6 years old, therefore this is evidence that she is in line with the norm. The other three milestones listed in the table, Marie has encountered these 1 years ahead of the general age. For example she could tie shoe laces at 5 years of age and the general age is six, she could draw people with heads at the age of five and the general age for this milestone is six, therefore these examples I have given is proof that Marie is advanced by one year in her fine motor skills.
In conclusion observing the eight tables in total for the two skills I have detected that Marie is fairly advanced in both gross motor skills and fine motor skills which proves that her physical development is very good.
Intellectual development
Intellectual development is about learning. It consists of learning to read, write, draw and use memory. This type of development is encouraged by interaction. The term intellectual development is also known as cognitive development. The two types of intellectual development I am going to research is understanding language, concepts, words and sound and visual exploration.
Intellectual development – understanding language, concepts, words and sounds
All children need to understand language, concepts, words and sounds in order to develop their intellectual ability. For this skill I am going to look at four tables containing information on the different milestones that are met for this skill, the age Marie has met the milestones and the general age they are met. I am then going to explain each table like I had done for physical development. I will then repeat the same for the second skill of intellectual development which is visual exploration.
Infancy
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
From looking at the infancy table, I could see straightaway that Marie is ahead of general age in all her milestones. For example at 2 months old, Marie reacted to someone calling her name. Marie recognised her name at 2 months and a typical infant doesn’t recognise their name until at least 3 months old therefore this shows Marie is 1 month ahead which indicates that her intellectual development is stimulated in this particular skill. Marie also achieved the second milestone in the table at 2 months and the average age that milestone is met is at 3 months, therefore this is more evidence that she is advanced her intellectual development. A third example is that Marie recognised her bottle at 3 months. Four months is the typical and average age most infants reach this milestone, therefore this also shows she is advanced. Marie is exactly 1 month ahead of all the milestones in this infancy. This shows Marie’s intellectual development is progressing well.
In the second table which contains milestones that a toddler reaches, again I can see that Marie is advanced in all milestones. For the first three that are listed in the table, Marie is 1 month ahead of the general age norm. For example; At 15 months most toddlers reach the milestone for “asking something by pointing and using one word”, however Marie reached this specific milestone by 14 months which shows she is 1 months ahead of the norm. Another example is that Marie understood and followed simple 1 step directions at the age of 14 months. Most toddlers achieve this milestone by 15 months again this is evidence that Marie is advanced and ahead of the general age as she has succeeded this milestone within one month of the general age. The last two milestones within the table are “enjoyed repeating simple rhymes” and “could distinguish match and name colours”. Marie has achieved both these milestones by two months before the general age. For example the first one “enjoyed repeating simple rhymes”, a typical toddler meets this milestone by 20 months but Marie has met this by 18 months which is two months before the average age. The other milestone “could distinguish match and name colours” Marie had achieved this 34 months and an average toddler would meet this by 36 months, therefore she is advanced.
When Marie was at pre-school age she was in line with the first three milestones as she reached these at the age of four and the general age for the milestones is also four, therefore she is not advanced in these but she is still in line. The other four milestones listed in the table are usually met at the age of 5 but Marie met them all at 4 years old as you will be able to observe in the table, therefore this proves has progressed well.
Lastly looking at the school age table, Marie is just in line with the general age. For example, “reading became a major interest”, most school age children achieve this milestone between the ages of 6-8 years old. Marie met this milestone at 6 years old; therefore she is in line with the norm. The general age to meet all the milestones listed in this table are 6-8 years and Marie has met all milestones between the ages of 6-7 years therefore she is in line with the norm and not behind.
Intellectual development – Visual exploration
Infancy:
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
Throughout the infant table, I observed that Marie is in line with general age and is advanced in some of the milestones. For example for the first milestone, Marie explored her fingers, hands and toes at 4 months. This is the average age an infant conquers this milestone. For the second milestone Marie has reached it at the age of 4 months and the general age this milestone is achieved is also four months, therefore Marie is in line with the norm which is not worrying. As I look on down through the table I have detected that Marie is ahead of the norm in three milestones. For example she explored objects by touching, shaking, banging and mouthing at the age of 7 months. The typical age an infant meets this milestone is at 8 months, therefore Marie is exactly one month ahead of the norm. Again in another milestone she is exactly one month ahead of the general age. At 14 months most infants achieve the milestone by exploring the person talking to them; however Marie was advanced in this, as she reached this milestone at 13 months.
During Marie’s toddler stage of life, she was advanced in all the milestones listed in the table apart from the first milestone where she is in line with the norm. For the other three milestones, Marie reached them at 34 months and the general age the milestones are usually met is at 36 months, therefore this is evidence she is advanced in her visual exploration skills. For example, Marie could identify parts of the body at 34 months and a typical toddler conquers this milestone at 36 months. Marie was 2 months ahead. At 34 months Marie could put together a 6 piece puzzle and the general age this is met is 36 months, the possible reason why she is so advanced in this is was probably because as we seen earlier, her fine motor skills were developed a lot earlier therefore this could have impacted on her being so advanced in this milestone.
In the third table illustrating the pre-school milestones that are met, I have observed that Marie is in line with two of the general ages and with the other three she is advanced by one year. For example, the first milestone “could place small objects in a line from largest to smallest”. Marie achieved this milestone at the age of four. Most pre-schoolers achieve this milestone at four years of age; therefore Marie is in line with the norm. In the third milestone Marie drew pictures that represented animals, people and objects at the age of four. Most pre-schoolers meets this milestone at the age of five therefore Marie is advanced in this milestone by one year which is an advantage as this shows her intellectual development is very good as she was probably reading books at a young age.
In the school age table explored that Marie has conquered the milestone of reading a lot at the age five. She is one year ahead as the average age that this milestone is reached is at 6 years old, therefore she is advanced in this particular milestone. The other two milestones listed, Marie is just in line with the norms this is evident in the table because the two milestones are generally reached by ages of 6-8 years and Marie is in line with these norms as she has reached the second last milestone at the age six and the last milestone at the age of 7.
Throughout all of Marie’s four stages of life, her intellectual ability has progressed very well; she is generally ahead of the norms and is achieving all of the norms. She is not behind and this indicates to me that Marie is quite an intelligent young child.
Linguistic development
The term linguistic development is also known as language development. It is an important key factor in the development of a child, as this type of development is what helps a child learn to speak and to engage in conversation. This type of development is encouraged through interaction. Interaction is vitally needed in order for a child to develop this type of development. The two types of linguistic development that I am going to analyse are “develop speech and language” and “use of facial expressions and body language”.
Develop speech and language
Speech and language is a very important factor of linguistic development. Interaction with a child is needed in order to develop their speech and language. In the four tables I am going to observe what Marie has learnt in order to develop her speech and language.
Infancy:
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
Throughout Marie’s infancy stage of linguistic development, I can see that she is quite advanced and has achieved most of the milestones ahead of the norm. For example; at the age of 2 months Marie gurgled and babbled often, the average age a child reaches this milestone is 4 months, she is 1 month ahead therefore she is advanced. This also indicates to me that she could be advanced in this milestone as she her parents may be given her lots of social interaction and bonding with her, which suggests to me that her social development may be advanced too. Again her development of speech and language is quite advanced as she could laugh chuckle and squeal when played with at 5 months. Most infants usually reach this milestone at 7 months, as it says in the table. Marie is advanced in this milestone by 2months which is excellent for her speech and language development. Throughout the whole infancy table Marie is only in line with the average age for two of the milestone. These are, “cry differently to express different needs” and “began to complete sentence with 3-5 words, and these are the only milestones she is in line with the average age. For all the rest of the milestones listed in this infancy table she is ahead of the norm by at least 1-2 months which is evidence that she is advanced in this pattern of development.
Looking at the toddler table, I can detect that Marie is advanced in all the milestones listed. For example, at 14 months she could use 10-20 intelligent words, an average toddler reaches this milestone by 15 months. Marie is 1 month ahead of this average age. Marie enjoyed challenging words at the age of 32 months as I can see in the table, the average age a child enjoys these challenging words is usually at 34 months, this means Marie is 2 months ahead of the general norm. This indicates to me that Marie is quite an intelligent child.
As a pre-schooler, through this pattern of development Marie continues to be above the average norm throughout all the milestones listed. For example, she remembered and enjoyed nursery rhymes at the age of three. Most pre-schoolers remember these nursery’s at the age of four. Marie is exactly one year ahead in this milestone and this shows me that her cognitive development is progressing very well, and that her memory is quite good too as she remembers the nursery rhymes. At the age of four Marie conquered the milestone for answering questions to stories, a typical pre-schooler reaches this milestone at 5 years of age. Again Marie is exactly one year ahead of the general norm. This is very advanced as this shows me that Marie’s attention span, focus and comprehensive skills are extremely good, as she is able to listen to a story, remember it and answer questions that are asked relating to the story.
Lastly, observing the school age table, I have detected that could engage in conversation, she talked constantly at the age of 5 and a half years old. A typical child reaches this milestone at 6 years of age, which shows that Marie is 6 months advanced in this area. The second milestone “Ask innumerable questions” this milestone is usually met at the age of 6 but Marie was advanced in this skill as she met it at 5 and a half years of age, which means she is 6 months ahead of the general age. At 6 years of age Marie’s grammar was generally correct, Marie is achieved milestone one year before the general age because the average age that a childs grammar is usually correct is at 7 years of age. Marie is advanced in this by one year, which indicates to me that her speech and language is quite good.
Linguistic development – use of facial expressions and body language
Use of facial expressions and body language is also another important pattern of linguistic development. I am going to observe Marie’s use of facial expressions and use of body language throughout her four key stages of life.
Infancy:
Toddler –
Pre-school
School age
As an Infant in this pattern of development I can see that Marie is in line with the norm for three of the milestones, and she is ahead of the norm in the other three milestones. Marie could make sounds to let others know that she was experiencing pleasure or pain, Marie met this milestone at birth and so do most infants, therefore she is in line with this. Marie smiled when a person came into her view at 2 months; she is very advanced as most infants don’t smile until they are at least 3 months to 4 months, therefore this tell me that she has had a lot of social interaction throughout her infant life. At 2 months she cooed and goosed a lot when she was content. Most infants don’t make these content noises until they are at least four months. Marie met this milestone two months before the general age, which indicates to me that she was a happy infant that had lots of social interaction in her life.
Throughout Toddlerhood for Marie, she is ahead of the general ages listed for all the milestones. At 14 months she should signs of nervousness and fret when around strangers, this tells me she was in contact with strangers at this age and this could be the reason why she achieved this milestone early as the general age this is met is 15 months. At 20 months toddlers should conquer the milestone of showing excitement, Marie achieves this at 18 months, she was two months ahead of the general age, and this shows that she is advanced. Marie began to have an attitude at 1 and a half years of age. A majority of toddlers have an attitude at three years, Marie has experienced this milestone at a very early age and there could be many factors that have caused her to meet this milestone at such a young age.
In the table for pre-school I can see that Marie is ahead of the general age that the milestones are met. Marie enjoyed pretending often with imaginary playmates at 3 years. Most pre-schoolers experience this milestone at 4 years; Marie is 1 year ahead of the norm, this shows that she is advanced. Marie could interact with adults and tell jokes that may not have made sense at 3 years of age. Most children do this at 4 years, Marie is 1 year ahead which shows that she is advanced and that she is socialising.
Lastly looking at the school age table, Marie is in line with two of the milestones and is advanced in the third one. Marie experienced the emotion of frustration when she got an answer wrong, she reached this at the age of 6, and the general age is form 6-7 years, therefore Marie is just in line with this norm. The second milestone Marie met was sulked in the corner of the room when she got shouted at. Most children do this at 5 or 6 years of age, Marie did this at 5 years of age therefore she is just in line with the norm. Marie smiled whenever she got all her spellings correct at 5 years of age. The general age this milestone is met is 6-7 years, therefore this is evidence that Marie is ahead of the general age. Her linguistic development is progressing very well.
Emotional development
Emotional development starts when a child forms an attached relationship with their primary carer. Children can develop and feel many different emotions and when they do so, this means that their emotional development is progressing. The two patterns of emotional development that I am going to analyse are “Development of self” and “ability to feel and express emotion”.
Emotional development – development of self
A newborn baby is isolated from the world in the sense that he or she has a limited ability to communicate with others. This is where we all begin; unaware that we even have a mind, let alone that it is surrounded by millions of others. A newborn baby seems to have no concept of individuality. This pattern, development of self is when the child starts to recognise themselves as an individual.
Infancy
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
Throughout Marie’s infant stage of life, she is advanced and ahead of the norm in all of the milestones that are listed. For example, we can see that Marie enjoyed feeding at 7 months, she liked to feed and most infants don’t enjoy feeding until they are 8 months, therefore Marie is 1 month ahead of the general age to reach this specific milestone. Marie loved to have cuddles at 8 months and a typical infant explores this milestone and starts to enjoy cuddles at 10months, this shows that Marie is 2months ahead of the general age and it also shows that she was given a lot of love and affection as an infant because she experience this milestone at an early age than what most infants do.
Again when Marie was a toddler she experience most of the milestones before most toddlers for example, she could distinguish between a boy and a girl at 15 months. Most toddlers don’t recognise the different between a boy and a girl until they are at least 17 months therefore Marie is 2 months advanced in this milestone. She continues to be ahead of the general age throughout this table as you can see.
For the two milestone that are present in the table for pre-school I can see that she is advanced by 1 year of the general age. Marie was apprehensive about strangers at the age of 3 and a typical pre-schooler doesn’t reach this norm to about 4 years of age. Marie has met this at a young age and this indicates to me that she may have been around strangers at a young age and is aware of them. Also at three year of age Marie played co-operatively with other kids and the general age a child meets this milestone is at 4 years of age. This indicates to me that Marie has been playing and socialising at a young age, probably with her twin sister and this is possibly why she has mastered this milestone a year before the norm.
Lastly observing the school age table, Marie is advanced in this stage of her life also as she is ahead of both the milestones that are listed and she reached both these milestone at the age of 5 years old and both milestones are generally reached from the ages of 6 to 8, this tells me that Marie is very advanced as she is ahead of these milestones by 1 year. Marie is quite aware of individuality from a young age throughout all the tables.
Emotional development – ability to feel and express emotions
It is important that all children can feel and express emotions because if they do this shows that their emotional feelings are developing. This pattern is an important factor within emotional development.
Infancy:
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
During infancy Marie is fairly advanced in this pattern of development as she is ahead of the majority of milestones that are listed in the table. At 4 months Marie could cry with tears to communicate pain, fear, discomfort or loneliness. Most infants experience this milestone at 5 months, therefore we can see Marie is advanced by 1 month. Marie loved to me touched and held close at 3 months and most infants experiences this emotion at 3 months therefore she is in line with the norms. Marie could return a smile when someone smiled at her at 4 months and most toddlers can do this at 5 months, this shows that Marie is progressing well in this area of development as she is 1 month ahead of the norm. This indicates to me that she is getting a lot of social interaction and love and affectionate from people. As we can see throughout the table she is reaching the norms in three of the milestones and for the rest she is advanced and ahead of the norm.
As a toddler I observed a particular milestone which was the second one “enjoyed playing alone but near other children”, Marie never achieved this milestone and most toddlers meet this at 36 months, this indicates to me that Marie is a social child as she never played alone because she always played with other children as you can see in the last milestone this is probably because she is used to playing with her twin sister.
In the pre-school table, Marie is ahead of all the general ages that the milestones are met. She experienced the emotion of fear in the dark at 4 years of age; most pre-school children reach this at 5 years of age. Marie is 1 year ahead of the norm. At the age of 4 Marie was throwing tantrums by slamming doors and stamping feet this is such an early age to experience this as most children don’t reach this milestone until they are 6 years of age. Marie is 2 years ahead, this indicts to me that there may be conflict in her house, she has observed this and she think it is acceptable therefore this may be why she has experienced this milestone at an early age. Lastly she said the term “I hate you” at the age of four and most do not say this term in until they are 5 years of age, Marie is 2years ahead of this which indicates to me that this term may be used a lot in her house and therefore she has observed this and copied the saying and has used it at such an early age.
Lastly Marie yet again is ahead of all the milestones for school age. She has experienced all the milestones a year before any other school age children does. She has experienced all the milestones at the age of 5 and average children experience them at 6 years of age as you can see in the table, therefore Marie is advanced in this pattern of development.
Social development
Social development is enhanced by interaction. It is very important to interact with a child by playing and talking to them. It is also very important that you encourage a child to talk and play with other children. If a child is not encouraged to socialise and interact they can become very isolated as they may not know how to talk to friends and socialise with them. This is why it is extremely important that this type of development is encourage at a young age, as it will be easy for them to interact with other people and children as they become older. The two patterns of social development that I am going to focus on are “ability to relate to others” and “independence”.
Social development – ability to relate to others
It is important that all children have the ability to relate to children and adults as this encourages and helps to fully develop our social development. This pattern is a very important process of social development because if you cannot relate to others you will not be able to interact and you could become isolated and deprived of friends etc. I am now going to observe Marie’s key stages of life to see if Marie can relate well to others.
Infancy:
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
In the infant table I can observe that Marie is advance in all of her milestones for this pattern of development. Marie spent a lot of time observing and watching at 6 months. Most infants observe and pay attention at 8 months. Marie is advanced in this milestone by 2 months, these indicates to me that there may have been a lot of activity going on through her infant life. Marie recognised family members names at 6 months, this indicates to me that she had a lot of social interaction in her infant stage of life and this is why she is advance in this milestone as she is 2 months ahead of the norm as a typical infant reaches this milestone at the age of 8 months.
As a toddler, Marie never met the milestone of wanting to play on her own this is probably because she was so used to playing with her twin sister that she couldn’t cope to play on her own. When Marie was playing she needed her primary carer nearby at 10 months, most children are attached to their primary carer and need them in constant sight at 12-18 months, Marie has experienced this milestone 2 months before the general age and this could be that Marie may not have felt safe in the environment she played in and therefore needed her primary carer nearby. Marie enjoyed playing with other children at 18 months, most children like to play with other children at 20 months, this is the general age that this milestone is met. Marie has met this milestone 2 months before most toddlers and the reason for this could be that she is used to playing with her twin sister, therefore enjoys being in company with others as she is used to it. Looking at the last milestone “shared well”. Marie shared well at 16 months and most toddlers don’t share well until at least 20months. Marie is extremely advanced in this milestone, she has met this milestone within 4 months of the norm, I suggest the reason why she is advanced in this, is because she was disciplined early, as she had a twin therefore they needed to share toys and take turns etc.
Looking at the pre-school table I have observed that Marie is ahead of all the norms for every milestone. She is has reached all the milestones by the age of three years old and the general age all the milestones are met is 4 years old, therefore Marie is 1 year ahead. At the age of 3 Marie played with children and shared toys and took turns, she is advanced in this because she has a twin sister and she is used to sharing and taking turns, however some children that have no twin brother and sister may not be used to sharing therefore they could find this milestone difficult to overcome and this is why the milestone is generally reached at 4 years of age. Marie was weary of stranger by the age of 3 years old, she knew not to talk to them, she may be advanced in this as she could be used to strangers around her area and environment and knows not to talk to them.
For school age, the four milestones that are presented in the table, these are all reached by Marie at the age of 5 and the general age is 6 years old. Marie is advanced by one year. Marie could carry out simple tasks around the house at the age of 5, this is probably because she needs to be independent as it is only herself and her twin sister in the house, therefore she may feel she needs to help her mother out. Marie began to see things from another child’s point of view at the age of 5, she is advanced against the norm by 1 year, she is mature than other school age children and this may be because she needs to be mature as she is the only sibling in her house.
Social development – independence
Independence is another important pattern that needs to be encouraged in order to stimulate social development. Within this pattern I am going to observe the four tables of Marie and I am going to explain if she is reaching the norm, above the norm or in line with the norm.
Infancy
Toddler
Pre-school
School age
As an infant Marie is extremely advanced in all the milestones that are listed as she is ahead of all the general ages for the milestones apart from one which is “socially depends on primary carer” this stance to sense as she needs to know that you can socialise, she needs to be socialised with. Marie co-operates when spoon feeding, dressing and other activities. She is getting used to the routine and she is co-operating well by eating the food she is being spoon fed etc. Marie meets this milestone at 5 months and most infants meet it within 7 months. Marie is probably advanced in this area as she is observing her twin being fed and knows that she has to be fed next etc.
As a toddler again I can see Marie is fairly advanced in this pattern of development as she is ahead of all the norms. Marie wanted her caregiver in constant sight that the age of 12 months and she became upset when she was separated from parent, here we can see that Marie is attached to her mother from an early age and cant bare the thought of her not being in sight therefore this may be the reason why she has reached this milestone before other infants. Marie could act and imitate the same sex as her mother through play at 14 months, Most toddler meet this milestone at 16 months, Marie is 2months ahead of the norm, they may be because that her mother is constantly with her and she is observing all the time, therefore she can act it out in play. Marie could use a fork and spoon to feed herself at 15 months and the usual age this milestone is met is 17 months, Marie is 2 months ahead of this norm and this could be that she has to be independent and feed herself as she has a twin sister and her mother could be feeding her twin sister, therefore Marie has learned to feed herself.
Looking at the pre-school table, again Marie is advanced by 1 year on all the milestones, as Marie has met all the milestones at the each of three, and most children meet these at the age of 4, this tells me she is ahead of the norm. Marie could dress and undress herself at 3 years old. The possible reason why she is advanced in this is because she was probably observing how her mother dressed her twin, therefore she copied her mother and dressed herself and this is how she became independent.
Lastly looking at the school age table, the two milestones within this table, Marie has reached them at the age of five and the average age most school age children meets these milestones is at 6, therefore Marie is advanced and ahead of the norm. Marie played games their friends wanted to play but she didn’t really want to play it, Marie probably met this early because she is used to taking turns as she has a twin sister and she is used to playing games with her twin sister that she didn’t want to play.
Overall from analysing all the tables for P.I.L.E.S I have observed that Marie is advanced in nearly all five aspects of development apart from her physical growth. When I was analysing the physical growth tables, I was predicting that because she was below the norm in her height and weight, she probably would stay behind the norm in the other aspects of development, but she hasn’t, she has become the opposite and this has proved me wrong, because I initially thought that a child with poor growth would probably have poor development skills but I am wrong in this case.